


Help Me, I Can't Breathe

by CastielFollowMe



Series: Single Dad Shiro Verse [17]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 15:13:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13883508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CastielFollowMe/pseuds/CastielFollowMe
Summary: Keith's first time at a pool was unlike anything Shiro had pictured.





	Help Me, I Can't Breathe

 

“Okay, now I think you’re all set.”

“...”

“You’re right. Maybe just one more floatie.”

“...”

“Or maybe not?”

“...”

“Yeah, I guess arm floaties and a regular floatie is enough. Still, maybe leg floaties isn’t a bad idea.” Shiro mumbled, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. On the ground, sitting upright on the towel was Keith (mostly due to the fact that the floatie around his waist was forcing him upright) staring at Shiro. His big blue eyes blinked owlishly at his father before he suddenly slapped the floatie around him.

Thankfully Keith hadn’t made a scene with the floaties, because normally the three-year-old hated unfamiliar things touching him. Shiro was mostly afraid that he would be pushing his luck if he put floaties on Keith’s legs, rather than believing it was too much. If Shiro could have it his way, he would encase his baby in a giant tubular floatie that held them both.

_Maybe that was too much?_

Still, it was Keith’s first time swimming. This was an extremely big deal for Shiro. Of course, Keith had gone to the beach with Shiro a few more times after their first experience. Although, each time in the water, Shiro always had a firm grip on Keith and they never went in water deeper than Shiro’s knees. However, Shiro’s mother had managed to convince Shiro that Keith should start going to the pool (with Shiro) to learn swimming and have more fun with water. She had a feeling that Keith might grow up to enjoy the water, and she wanted to encourage it as early as she could.

It had taken a lot of pleading from his mother and stern threats reminding Shiro that she had in-fact raised two rambunctious boys.

So here Shiro was, at a crowded public pool with Keith ready to swim. Shiro had on a long sleeve swim shirt and long trunks, making sure to cover up a majority of his skin. Keith had on his own swim shirt with shorter sleeves and teeny swim trunks with elephants on them. Keith had been in awe of the elephants and spend the entire drive to the pool trying to grab them. Admittedly, once they were parked Shiro had taken enough footage of Keith playing with his swim trunks to make his own movie.

Unfortunately, Shiro’s parents were out of town this weekend and Kuro was stuck at his new job, which left Shiro alone with Keith. Normally, this wasn’t a problem, but Shiro couldn’t help but worry about anything happening to Keith. This was one of the few times that Shiro wished he had more people to keep an eye on Keith.

Keith slapped the floatie again and twisted as little as he could to look at the pool behind them. Shiro glanced up when he heard kids splashing and smiled softly at the crowded pool. The number of people was the biggest reason for why Shiro was hesitating.

_What if someone ran into them?_

_What if someone tried to cannonball on Keith?_

_What if he gets splashed?_

_What if he cries?_

Shiro snapped out of his thoughts when Keith, yet again, slapped his floatie and twisted towards the pool. By now, he had on his adorably famous pout and Shiro knew he was a goner.

“Aw baby,” He chuckled and scooped Keith into his arms, floaties and all. Keith squeaked happily and bounced against his floatie. “Okay, I get it. We’re at a pool and you want to go in the water, huh? Okay, baby.” Shiro said softly. He slowly made his way towards the pool, heading for the least crowded area. Luckily that area seemed to be in one of the more shallow parts of the pool, only coming up to Shiro’s waist.

He tried not to think about why the pool was slightly warmer than normal water, as he climbed down the steps into the water.

The entire time, Keith was transfixed on the water below them. Immediately, he was staring down at the water with wide eyes and wiggling. Shiro couldn’t help but laugh at his eagerness. Once he was finally in the water and on flat ground, Shiro bent down until he was on his knees and grinned at Keith.

Then he lowered Keith and the floatie onto the water.

Keith’s reaction was priceless.

Instantly, the three-year-old squealed when the water touched him, his legs curled up under the floatie and he flapped his arms wildly. Shiro was beaming the entire time when he saw that Keith’s smile never left his face.

“Yeah?” Shiro smiled, hands hovering near Keith’s floatie. Keith slapped the floatie again, eyes immediately looking at Shiro. As if to say, Do you see this shit? Do you see it’s amazingness? “Yeah baby, I see. It’s fun, isn’t it?”

As an answer, Keith squeaked again.

“Aww,” Shiro cooed, swimming beside Keith and slowly spinning him around in the water. Keith’s chubby legs were slowly uncurling themselves in the water but his hands were still occasionally flapping in excitement. However, once Shiro started spinning Keith, Keith’s squeaks were louder and his flapping became wilder.

Shiro laughed into the floatie. He could then feel Keith patting the back of his head. Shiro glanced up with a fond smile to see Keith grinning gummily in his direction. His prosthetic rubbed up against the floatie causing Shiro to grimace.

Shiro’s latest prosthetic hadn’t been waterproof, and Shiro was terrified to let Keith in the water with only one arm. Which meant he was forced to resort to an old rubber and plastic prosthetic arm to use in the water. He was lucky enough to even have a prosthetic but this old prosthetic was also part of the reason to why Shiro was so hesitant with Keith in the pool. He knew his reflexes with this arm weren’t as fast as with his metallic prosthetic.

_That’s okay, you just have to be careful._

_Just be careful._

Shiro almost jumped when he felt the smallest splash of water hit his face. Blinking rapidly, Shiro was surprised to see Keith had one had dipped into the water. Keith looked just as shocked as Shiro and Shiro realized that it was Keith who had splashed him.

Quickly, Keith’s look of surprised morphed into a delighted look and he slapped the water once more. This earned a slightly bigger splash towards Shiro. Shiro grinned widely and laughed.

“Hey there! That’s not nice.” Shiro whined loudly, earning another grin from Keith. Keith merely slapped the water yet again and splashed his father. This caused Shiro to laugh once more. “Oh sweetheart, it’s on.”

Gently, Shiro cupped his hand into the water and pushed it towards Keith. At most, Keith’s chest got a bit wet from the water, and Shiro made sure not to get any on his face. Of course, this caused the reaction that Shiro had been waiting for. Keith’s cheeks puffed out and his mouth dropped open in the biggest look of shock, Shiro had ever seen on him. It was as if he had discovered the answer to the world’s most complex problems. As Keith looked shocked, Shiro took the chance to push another wave of water at Keith’s arms and chest.

“See? Now you know how daddy felt,” Shiro struggled to get out, between chuckles as Keith continued to jump with looks of surprise before he was happily slapping the water again. Which splashed water in all different directions.

Shiro smiled again as he continued to be assaulted with water, before pushing more water at Keith. This game continued for a few more minutes with both parties smiling.

“Hey!”

Shiro almost jumped out of the water at the small cry. Quickly, he looked around Keith to see a small boy watching them. He didn’t look much older than six and was only a few inches higher than the shallow end of the pool, though he looked to be just fine in the water. Shiro noticed a couple scars on both sides of the boy’s dark cheeks. However, the kid’s hair was obviously soaked though he didn’t appear upset. “You splashed me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. We didn’t see you there,” Shiro said softly, eyes wandering around to find the kid’s parents. Strangely, he didn’t see anyone who resembled the kid. The kid didn’t look mad and instead trod closer to Keith and Shiro.

Shiro gently turned Keith closer to him and Keith finally saw the newcomer. His shy nature kicked in and Keith tried to hide behind his hands and arm floaties, causing Shiro to almost coo out loud. He refrained when the kid stopped in front of Shiro and Keith, his eyes locked onto Keith.

“Can I play too?” The kid asked softly and Shiro blinked in surprise. He wanted to play? Once more, Shiro looked around, trying to find out if the kid’s parents were watching. Still, no one came towards them.

“Play?” Shiro asked as gently as he could. The kid nodded, looking away from a shy Keith to glance at Shiro. He didn’t stare at the scar on Shiro’s nose or look at Shiro’s prosthetic, much to Shiro’s surprise. Keith peeked out from behind his hands but remained mostly hidden.

“Yeah, like this,” The boy said and he hesitantly pushed some water towards Shiro. Shiro frowned in confusion before his eyes widened in realization.

“You mean splashing?” Shiro asked and repeated the action. When Shiro’s wave of water pushed over the kid, the kid couldn’t help but giggle. Shiro could feel his heart melting again as Keith hid behind his hands once more.

“Yeah!” The kid nodded enthusiastically.

“Are you parents going to be okay with you playing with us?” Shiro smiled gently, causing the boy to blush. Quickly he shook his head.

“I don’t have parents,” The boy admitted quietly and Shiro wanted to punch himself in the mouth. “I’m here with the other kids in the orphanage. But everyone’s playing with everyone else.” Shiro’s heart broke.

“Oh my,” Shiro whispered.

“It’s okay. The headmistress says hopefully soon I can be adopted and get a new momma and daddy!” The boy brightened instantly and Shiro felt a strong happiness grow for the boy’s optimism.

“Of course you will,” Shiro replied with a grin. The boy beamed shyly. “You seem like a great kid, and I know you’ll be adopted. You know, Keith is adopted.” Shiro said, gesturing to his shy son. By now Keith was peeking at the boy from behind his floaties and Shiro ruffled his hair. Instantly, the boy’s jaw dropped.

“He’s adopted? He came from an orphanage? Just like me?” The boy breathed and Shiro’s heart twinged again.

“Yup. Just like you, and I adopted him three years ago.” Shiro smiled once more. “My name is Shiro and this is my son Keith.”

“I’m Regris.” The boy said happily before holding his hand out for Keith to shake and Shiro melted.  _What a polite boy._  Keith stared at the hand in confusion, no longer hiding behind his floaties. Shiro chuckled at Keith’s confusion as Regris waited patiently before he shook the boy’s hand. Regris blushed once again and smiled brighter.

“He’s still working on shaking hands,” Shiro replied with a chuckle and Regris nodded knowingly. Then with a careful smile, he pushed a handful of water at Regris, smacking the boy across the face. Regis squealed loudly, causing Keith to shriek in excitement.

Then Regris was splashing at Shiro and trying to duck for cover. For a while longer, this game continued and Shiro was becoming more in awe of this young boy. Regris was trying to soak Shiro was everything his little body could, but anytime he splashed Keith he was gentler than even Shiro. He always made sure never to splash as high as Keith’s neck and he even would put himself between Keith when Shiro would try to splash him. There were even times when Shiro was being hit with splashes from Regris and Keith.

All in all, everything was going well. Keith was having fun and he seemed to have made a friend in Regis. Shiro was feeling much more relaxed than when he had arrived at the pool, and Regris was a sweetheart.

Which was when everything went south.

The only thing Shiro heard was a loud shout of, “No running!”

Then in the next second, something heavy and solid had smacked into him and he was plunging face first into the water. He could feel two more solid things landing in the water next to him, but Shiro was already completely underwater.

He could hear muffled shouts and trouble above the water, but there was still a heavy mass kicking and pushing Shiro to the floor of the pool. He realized that the mass was a rather large kid that must have landed on him. He struggled to get out from under the kid. It was only three feet of water. He could easily stand up.

Suddenly, Shiro felt his entire breath leave him without notice when he felt a kick to his stomach. As the breath left him, Shiro accidentally sucked in a lung full of water and his eyes watered. He felt something else pushing on him and Shiro struggled to force the water out of him but there wasn’t any air for him to breath in.

_He couldn’t breathe._

_He couldn’t breathe._

Right then it felt as if Shiro was falling deeper and deeper into water that was more than just three feet. He couldn’t even struggle because somewhere in his muddled brain he was afraid of hurting the kids. Of hurting Keith or Regris.

_Keith._

_Oh god, Keith!_

_Please let him be safe!_

_Please._

_I can’t leave Keith. Not like this._

Shiro swallowed another lungful of water when a weight pressed down on him and his head began to spin. His vision was darkening and his chest felt like it was made of led.

_He couldn’t breathe._

_He can’t breathe._

_He. Can’t._

As Shiro’s vision became black and his chest was heavy with water, Shiro could barely feel as something grabbed his arms and pulled him up to the surface. He almost didn’t feel like his head surfaced and he was dragged out of the water. All he could feel was heavy and dizzy. He could barely keep his eyes open.

There was more pressure on his chest.

_He can’t breathe._

_He can’t breathe._

_He can’t._

Then just as quickly, Shiro could feel everything building up in his throat and spewing out. He coughed and nearly gagged the water out and then he took in his first deep breath. Shiro coughed several more times, feeling someone turning him onto his side.

_He could breathe._

Shiro greedily sucked in heavy lungfuls of air but his eyes remained closed and his head swam dizzily.

“Hey? Can you hear us?” A voice called over his head.

“Someone should call an ambulance.”

“Is he okay?”

Shiro forced his eyes opened, wincing when he coughed again. Blearily he turned onto his back and saw several unfamiliar faces above him. His vision was doubled for a few seconds longer before finally straightening and Shiro realized he was on his back beside the pool.

“Hey there, can you hear me?” A man closest to Shiro asked while the woman beside him spoke into a phone.

“W’happened?” Shiro whispered hoarsely. The man snorted and patted his arm.

“Some kid was running and jumped right where you were in the pool. He literally landed on top of you and then his friend fell in after him. You were under water for about a minute as we tried to get them off you. I think you swallowed a couple mouthfuls though.”

Shiro groaned in response. “K’s okay?” He mumbled tiredly.

The man looked over his shoulder with a nod. “Yeah, they’re all fine. Getting scolded by their moms but no one was hurt.”

Shiro sighed tiredly and nodded. Dimly he could hear the sound of some kid crying. Then his eyes snapped open and he struggled to sit upright. The crying grew louder.

“Keith? Keith! Regris?” Shiro cried, coughing again as the man and a few others tried to keep Shiro down.

“Whoa, take it, easy buddy. An ambulance is on its way.” The man said but Shiro ignored him and struggled to sit upright.

“Keith? He’s my son! He was right beside me. Did he get hurt? Is he okay? He can’t swim!” Shiro continued struggling, heart pounding harder now than it did when he was drowning. “He’s only three! And Regris! He was a little boy with us! Are they okay? Where are they?”

“Hey, hey,” The man tried again.

“Mister Shiro!”

Shiro spun around when he heard Regris’ familiar to see the young boy seated on a pool chair. On his lap, with only his arm floaties on, sat Keith who was crying loudly. Shiro quickly stood up, much to everyone’s surprise before rushing over to the two boys and kneeling in front of Keith and Regris. It only took a second for Keith to look up before he burst into new tears and latched onto Shiro’s neck quickly. Shiro pulled Keith into his arms whispering soothing words of comfort while rubbing Keith’s back.

“It’s okay baby, I’m okay,” Shiro whispered softly. He didn’t know if he was trying to comfort Keith or himself at this point. Keith’s sobs eventually died down to sniffles but he still clung tightly to Shiro’s shirt and Shiro finally looked over at Regis. Where he could see tears trailing down the poor kid’s face.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Shiro said softly. He shifted Keith so that the toddler was on his hip before pulling Regris into a hug with one arm. “It’s okay. You did so good Regris. You protected Keith and I’m so thankful. We’re all okay. Thank you.”

Regris’ cries weren’t as loud as Keith’s and he eventually had calmed himself down by the time that the ambulance came for Shiro. Everyone insisted that Shiro get checked out (even Shiro knew that) and he was forced to leave in the ambulance. Luckily they allowed Keith to come with and for that Shirow was thankful. Before they left, he turned back to Regis with a warm smile.

“Thank you again, Regris. You saved Keith’s life. I know you’ll find your forever home, just like Keith.” He whispered before ruffling Regris’ hair. Regris’ smile lit up the entire neighborhood and his blush coated the tips of his ears. Just before Shiro was taken away, Regis asked if he would see either of them again and Shiro couldn’t help but smile. He promised Regris that they would be back every day of the week, this summer as long as they could.

And Shiro kept a hold of that promise so that Regris could see him and Keith every single day.

_Swimming wasn’t so bad, after all._


End file.
